Batches 31 & 32: Tumbling Stones from the Papatotara Coast

I really enjoy collecting tumbling stones from the Papatotara Coast beach and I’m twice as lucky because it’s just out the front of where we live. Pap Coast stones as I like to call them are quite a lot more rougher than the stones collected from down the road at Gemstone Beach. The stones from Batch 31 were collected on the 16 Sept between The Cliffs and the Rowallan. Batch 32 stones were collected on 23 September down at The Cliffs. (Not it’s official name – it’s just what I call the part of the beach out in front of our BnB).

I like to put polished stones, of which I have plenty, into a little glass bowl and let our BnB guests take home some as a momento of their visit/stay. Some guests will “exchange” the polish stones with some rough ones they found after going for a walk on the beach. Don’t tell them, but most of those ones end up in my garden not in a tumbler! At the moment there’s just Gemstone Beach stones in the bowl and I’d like to have a bowl of Papatotara Coast polished stones for a bit instead!

These stones however started out in separate tumblers with Batch 31 needing to do two turns through Stage 1 – 80/100grit. After Stage 2 – 220grit Batch 31 was combined with Batch 32 as both 3lb barrels weren’t full enough to run as separate loads for Stage 3 – 400grit.

Batch 31: 3lb Tumbler 3

Stage 1: 80/100grit

Number of Stones: 55
Weight in: 934g
4 Tbspns of 80/100grit – no pellets
Days Tumbling: 11
Weight out: 777g – loss of 157g

Stage 1: 80/100grit (2nd)

Number of Stones: 55
Weight in: 777g
4 Tbspns of 80/100grit – no pellets
Days Tumbling: 8
Weight out: 620g – loss of 157g (how coincidental is that??)

Stage 2: 220grit

Number of Stones: 55
Weight in: 620g
4 Tbspns of 220grit – pellets added
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: 536g – loss of 84g

Batch 31: Pre-tumble

Batch 31 - PapCoast Stones — Sprayed wet – pretumble Batch 31

Batch 31: After 2nd 80/100grit

B31 80/100g twice — Much happier with the batch after it’s second run through 80/100grit

Batch 32: 3lb Tumbler 2

Stage 1: 80/100grit

Number of Stones: 69
Weight in: 914g
4 Tbspns of 80/100grit – no pellets added
Days Tumbling: 11
Weight out: 757g – loss of 157g (ok now that’s super coincidental!!)

Stage 2: 220grit

Number of Stones: 66 + 5 (removed 3 needing a redo at 80/100grit and added 5 from redo box – originally from batch 27)
Weight in: 753g
4 Tbspns of 220grit – pellets added
Days Tumbling: 10
Weight out: 676g – loss of 77g

Stage 3: 400grit

Number of Stones: 72 + 44 (added B31 stones – had to leave 9 stones out as they didn’t fit so they are waiting in the holding box for another barrel that tumbles 400grit)
Weight in: forgot to weigh!
4 Tbspns of 400grit – pellets added
Days Tumbling: 10
Soap Tumble: 24 hours

Batch 32 : Pre-tumble

Batch 32: Added at Stage 2

Add B32 — Added to batch 32 from holding box. These stones were originally in batch 27.

Time to Polish

After undergoing a close and careful inspection prior to polishing 15 stones were removed. The removed stones have been returned to the redo holding box to tumble some more in coarse grit. The 4lb tumbler was busy with Batch 36 so rather than have a load of “to be polished” stones, I decided to use my 300ml polish mix for it’s second use. It’s a novelty as I don’t usually polish in the 3lb tumbler! I’m not 100% sure if I’ve got the balance between tumble polish mix and water quite right but we’ll see how the polish turns out in about 10-12 days!

Stage 4: Polish Mix

Number of Stones: 99
Weight in: 804g
Polish Mix (2nd use): 6 Tbspns of polish mixed with 300mls of clean water. Pellets added.
Days Tumbling: 10

Stage 5: Burnish

2 Tbspns of Borax to clean and clear any remaining polishing mix. Pellets added.
Days Tumbling: 48 hours

B32 finished — B32: Straight out of Polish and dried off – not burnished yet

B32 - After Burnish — B32: 48hrs in borax – can you see any difference?

Polished Stones of Interest: Combined Batch 31 & 32